A/N: My first crossover with TCR/PTT and a little Whisper of the Heart; the idea originally came to mind after Nanenna (yes, I'm going to name you) displayed a desire to see another TCR/PTT crossover; them being "two series that could use a little more interaction". I know the only other one of this type is a YarningChick's, so I'm really nervous about treading on other people's toes and not doing a story up to expectations. I did my best; I steered this as far away from Of Fur and Feathers as I could possibly manage and I hope you're happy with the result. I'm sorry if certain (admittedly, important) characters don't turn up, but I didn't want to add them in for the sake of it.

Please, enjoy.

The quote is one that I found, but couldn't track down the author. If you know who this belongs to, please tell me. They deserve the credit.

ooOoo

We are the writers, the dreamweavers,

We fabricate the line between myth and reality:

In our stories, we blur the line so myth becomes reality,

And reality becomes myth.

x

Chapter 1: Dreams to Nightmares

She was floating on a silver floor; the air seemed filled with something more magical than just oxygen. There were people watching – oh yes, there were people watching – but she didn't care. All her attention was focused on the stranger leading her through those steps she'd relived a hundred times since that day. Leading her as if she were more than just a clumsy schoolgirl; as if she was a lady. She felt like she should know this stranger; something inside her longed for him to cast his gaze down – and she knew he would. Longed for him to speak – and again she knew he would.

"Careful Haru," the stranger soothed, "don't lose yourself." He spun her round in a gentle twirl. "Believe in who you are."

She knew those words; they had run round her head too many times before. She knew this was only a dream, but it was one she didn't want to end.

He cast his eyes down to meet hers, a smile curving on his lips. "I said so before, didn't I?"

She gasped and suddenly the dance broke. She had been expecting green eyes.

They were red.

And now his smile seemed to be more of a leer than a smile and the music more of a death march than a waltz and this wasn't right.

She struggled to break his grip on her but at some point it had tightened and now she was caught.

There was laughter from all around her – or maybe cackling would be a better word – and the sound echoed round the hall, flooding her ears. Drowning her. She stepped back for long enough to see that the residents of the hall were no longer cats, but giant black birds, each with glittering red eyes; cold and sharp like Baron's.

Baron.

She turned back to the cat in whose arms she was held, praying that he'd returned to normal. But his eyes still glimmered like blood-red onyx stones and there was something wild and dangerous in them. Something un-Baron.

"Sorry Baron," she whispered, and she dug her newly formed claws into the arm that kept her prisoner. He howled and released her. And now she stumbled back, cradling the hand that had scratched Baron; there were a few drops of blood upon her nails, but even as she watched the blood became solid and fell away: now just pieces of wood. Hollow, empty pieces of wood. She muffled a scream and frantically brushed away at her hands, glancing up at... at what had once been Baron. She continued to stumble backwards, and suddenly the ground beneath her feet gave way and she was falling.

The familiar surroundings of the hall dissolved away; now replaced with clouded sky.

Below her, her town was rushing up to meet her; too fast, too soon.

She screamed as she fell, trying to curl herself up into a ball to protect herself from the wicked whipping of the wind on her face. It snarled her hair, stole her breath and chilled her to the bone, and yet she was still falling.

She was falling alone.

Where was Baron? Where was Muta? How could this scene be so familiar and yet so wrong?

From the shadow of her school, great black birds swarmed up towards her; their iridescent wings engulfing her in a cloud of black. For several moments she couldn't breathe, but they wouldn't stop. She couldn't gain her footing; she wasn't slowing. Instead of giving her feet a surface, they tore their beaks through her skin and now she was screaming at them to stop. Crows? They looked like ravens...

She screamed again; the ground was rushing ever closer and the birds tore ever deeper, and suddenly she was lying on a familiar green carpet.

Shakily she pushed herself off the floor.

"Just a dream," she whispered, but even her whisper shook. She closed her eyes and the image of Baron's reddened eyes filled her vision. She shivered and opened them.

Outside it was still dark, but even as Haru flicked on her lamp the light could not banish the shadows of that dream. Clumsily she stumbled back onto her bed, shivering still as her mind tumbled through a mess of black angular eyes, black feathers... and those red, red eyes.

A year. It'd been a year since her adventure in the Cat Kingdom, and since then she'd had dreams, but never ones like that. Never ones that... black. Never ones that had actually made her scared – scared of Baron. She passed one hand over her eyes, as if to try to wipe the sleep from her eyes or maybe the scars of the dream from her mind.

"Just a dream," she repeated to herself, for it needed repeating, even if just to consol herself that this – here – was her reality. "I'm fine, everything's fine. I'm fine and Baron's..."

Probably still at the bureau, her mind finished miserably when the words failed to come. Moving on. Like she should be doing. But life was complicated and somehow the cat doll was still on her mind, even as life moved on, even as she changed, even as she was sure Baron was changing... or maybe he didn't change. He didn't age; why should he change?

She shook her head again; these thoughts weren't getting her anywhere. They certainly weren't getting her any closer to returning to sleep again, although, considering her recent nightmare she couldn't help but question whether sleep was really what she wanted. Especially as every time she closed her eyes she saw Baron... or what had looked like Baron from her dream...

After a moment's decision, she swung herself out of bed and headed downstairs. The house creaked and groaned around her in the way a house does whenever one is creeping through it in the dead of night. A flick of a switch sent the kitchen into sharp relief, lighting upon cups and plates in the sink, a half-filled kettle and a carton of milk left forgotten on the side.

She sighed and picked up the milk, mumbling something to herself about leaving it to go off, and returned it to its home in the fridge. She shivered; tired and shaken from the nightmare, and ambled to the sink, pouring herself out a glass of water.

As soon as she'd done that, she collapsed onto a chair, sparing a glance to the clock on the wall. She groaned and half slammed her head against her arms on the table.

Half three. Half three in the morning.

Not that that made her feel any better about the whole thing.

ooOoo

A/N: Short first chapter, yes I know, sorry. Review still please? Good? Bad? Should hit the bin immediately? Later chapters will be longer, I promise.